


Something More Than a Nickname

by scatter



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-27
Updated: 2011-04-27
Packaged: 2017-10-18 17:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatter/pseuds/scatter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Yosuke calls Souji partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something More Than a Nickname

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a [prompt](http://badbadbathhouse.livejournal.com/1488.html?thread=8153296#t8153296) at the Persona 4 Kink Meme: _So my request is, I want to see the first time Yosuke ever calls Souji "partner", and Souji's reaction to it. I don't care if it's cracky or fluffy or dramatic or whatever -- in fact, multiple fills with different tones would be amazing. :D_

Souji didn't think he was a leader, wasn't vain enough to assume that because he'd gotten his Persona first he was somehow better than Yosuke and Chie. He was just as confused as they were, maybe more so – neither of them had mentioned getting summoned to an odd blue limousine and being told to seek the truth. They were all getting used to handling their Persona but while they had the benefit of getting comfortable with just one, he tried to juggle a handful and had to deal with the odd feeling of acquiring more, of merging them and pulling new ones from deep within his soul.

He worried about that. Yosuke and Chie had one, and he had a lot; did that mean there was something wrong with him? Igor had called him special but maybe he'd just meant weird in the way kids at his old school used to call him. Maybe all of the Personas he owned were a sign that something was wrong with him and each time he got a new one he was making himself worse.

But he didn't feel wrong, not any different than when he got Izanagi, and his new friends didn't think there was anything odd about his ability. They thought it was interesting and it certainly came in use so he didn't mention his thoughts. Maybe he'd say something after they'd rescued Yukiko. They might be willing to listen.

But despite his worries, despite not knowing anything about him, and despite the fact that he was running mostly on adrenaline and instinct, they trusted him enough to let him order them around in battle, to lead the way when they were exploring the castle. Souji drew confidence from their trust, set his shoulders, gripped his sword – the feel and weight of it still unfamiliar – and did his best to lead them.

He had to show them their faith in him wasn't misplaced. He didn't complain when he got hit, when he ended up cut and bruised from the Shadows, or when his hands started to burn from swinging his katana. But even watching his step and telling himself to make every attack count, he screwed up in battle and switched to the wrong Persona. Before he could correct his mistake, the Shadow they were fighting took advantage of his weakness and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Chie finished it off with a heavy kick to the side, and although they couldn't afford to linger, Souji stayed down and glared at his feet in a moment of self-reproach.

"Dammit." They'd fought this enemy before, he knew better than this. There was no excuse to get confused like that.

"Hey." Yosuke was standing in front of him. He lowered his headphones and tossed his hair back like he did after every battle. It should have looked stupid, maybe, or gotten annoying, but he looked so casual when he did it, like fighting these things was no big deal, that Souji felt jealous instead. He wished he were that cool about the whole thing; he always shook after their fights and had to hope the other two wouldn’t notice before he could pull himself back together.

Yosuke crouched in front of him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. I…made a dumb mistake." Admitting it made Souji feel even worse.

"Yeah, I saw. Switched to the wrong Persona, it looked like."

Souji's ears burned and he looked for Chie as a way of avoiding Yosuke's eyes. She was giving them some space and keeping an eye out for Shadows. "Sorry, it was stupid."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Yosuke slapped his shoulder. "I'm impressed you can do it at all. Jiraiya's too much for me sometimes."

"It won't happen again," Souji promised.

"Well, I wasn't fast enough to knock you out of the way so I screwed up too. That won't happen again either." Yosuke stood up and extended his hand. "Come on, let's get moving, partner."

Souji took his hand and let Yosuke pull him up. "Partner?"

"You know, 'cause…" Yosuke's confidence disappeared. He messed with his headphones and looked somewhere slightly to the left of Souji's face, blushing. "We've got each other's backs and we promised to solve this together, right? That makes us partners."

Souji had never known someone he would consider calling that; he moved around too much, didn't have time to form connections, and plus he'd always been considered a little too weird to get close to. He was surprised by how much the word touched him and suddenly he wanted to get to know Yosuke a lot better, wanted to invite him over after school and hang out during lunch.

"Right." He coughed and tried not to sound sappy. "We're partners. That's cool. It's awesome."

"Great." Yosuke relaxed and they stood smiling at each other for a while.

"Are you two done?" Chie asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet with the desire to get moving.

"Yeah, we're coming," Souji said, reminded of their mission.

"We better," Yosuke whispered. "She hasn't kicked you yet but it hurts. Trust me."

"I do, partner."

They tossed the word around for the rest of the day, trying it out and getting used to it. By the time they called it quits and went back to Junes, Chie was sick of hearing it.

Souji wasn't. He didn't think he'd be able to hear it enough.


End file.
